Ott Tänak - Future champion?

[EstWRC]

another betsafe interview is coming soon

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmJkgOQN...d=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[flat_right]

I think there is quite a big chance that we will get Betsafe interview with mr. T. At least he was in their studio and they still have some kind of a deal.
I personally can't wait it any longer! We have gotten quite good info/backstories from him from the past years when he has done them. Those interview links are copied below.

https://youtu.be/OQgVFKPWN2k

https://youtu.be/FtVEwxlp5_8

[flat_right]

Ott himself also confirmed it in his story. NICE

[EstWRC]

Betsafe interview is out but no ENG subs at the moment

https://youtu.be/5kNFOnYgVIg

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Estonian rally legend Ott Tänak said in the Betsafe podcast that his goal for the next season after joining the M-Sport rally team is to win the world championship.

Tänak admitted that after the Catalunya rally, when his decision to terminate the contract with the Hyundai factory team became public, he did not have any spare options "in his back pocket", but contact with M-Sport manager Malcolm Wilson was established quite soon. "Then there was still the Japanese rally left. We started to investigate what the possibilities are and what their capabilities are and what they plan to do in the future at what level," said Tänak.

Ralliäss admitted that Hyundai developed a lot during the year, and unlike Hyundai, the M-Sport car is unfamiliar to him today. "Certainly there is a lot to discover, but people are very enthusiastic and definitely want to prove that, after all, it is a small team, but at the same time, everyone has a big sporting spirit," he said.

Tänak believes that, like Toyota, it is possible to do great things in M-Sport. "Certainly we put ourselves in a difficult situation to some extent, we are going into the season without having driven a single meter with this car in different conditions, but at the same time I believe that this system will definitely help," said the rally man.

Tänaku's contract with M-Sport will initially last for one year, during which he aims to achieve the title of world champion. "It was actually possible in Toyota's year. We had some weaknesses there, which eventually left us out of the game, but everything is possible, you just have to be practical."

"To some extent, maybe being in a slightly weaker position than others is motivating, but at the same time, I see that it is possible to turn this situation around with work," said Tänak. "All the drivers and all the teams are very top level and everyone knows what they are doing, but I believe we have our chances."

[meh]

Nice interview. Really politically correct, no bad words towards anybody.

With lack of testing days for him, others (title contenders) have quite some handicap in the beginning of the season.

[EstWRC]

Watched it now. Nothing really groundbreaking was told this time

- he didn’t enjoy the final rallies anymore and just felt it was “thing he must do”

- the host asks that maybe it would have been sensible to stay at Hyundai for next year cause the car finally was coming together but Ott says he didn’t get any clear vision and answer about next year from the team and the construction there is still a mess

- seems to be very very motivated, the host is really surprised when Ott says the contract is only for a year and asks “with this one year you think it is doable to become a champion ?” And Ott doesn’t even hesitate and says yes.

- doesn’t rule out being teammates with Neuville again in the future

- about Greece, his vision is that if they would have swapped the places, the team and him would have sent a message to Toyota and Kalle that it isn’t over yet and we are still fighting with you but instead of that the team raised their hands and showed a white flag to Toyota and Kalle. The host asks if he would have swapped the places and he answers that he has been in that situation (referring to 2017 helping Ogier)

[flat_right]

Some key points to add to what has already been said here.

- He was asked about the Ford test and how the car felt; was it somehow better than Hyundai, but Ott said that it was a totally different car, needs to learn how it behaves, with buttons in different places, etc. But overall, he saw that M-Sport had a bunch of motivated lads and with them, everything was possible. The core of M-Sport has stayed the same when he worked with when he was there.

- Ott said that he and Wilson had been in contact all the time in previous seasons and Wilson has made no secret that he wants Ott back. But it was Wilson who called Ott first when he announced that he was leaving Hyundai. Contact was signed a couple of hours prior to the announcement.

- Did Loeb's performance with M-Sport have any bearing on his decision to join them? He said it helped, but also noted that the performance was very inconsistent and that it was now their job to make it better on all surfaces. The interviewer also mentioned that they were slow on faster rallies, to which Ott replied that Hyundai hadn't won in Finland before, but now they have.

- He considers winning Rally Finland one of his best. How was it possible that two weeks before they lost by three minutes to Rovanperä, and now they managed to win? Ott said that they found some weak points and managed to fix them, plus Toyota didn't think it was possible for Hyundai to make up that much ground and played it too safe.

- There wasn't a concrete reason to leave Hyundai, but all the small things together made him feel that there wasn't a structure in place where they could build something.

- He doesn't care about being number one in the team - to be first, he needs to beat everyone. Now in Ford, it will be the first time in his life that he is effectively number one. In Toyota, Latvala and Meeke didn't do anything that would give Ott a couple of extra points.

- Although the previous generation was the best he had driven, he says engineers have extracted good performance out of Rally1.

- They kept Hyundai Rally2 cars, and he hopes to have more involvement in their development. He has always had an interest in development, and he hopes that something useful for future Estonian drivers will come out of it.

- Hybrid problem that he has had all the time during this season - basically they didn't figure it out as it was all the time something different. All the problems they had with the car - basically lack of development. They homologated the car as it hadn't driven a single meter on the gravel. Neuville's crash hindered the progress a lot as it was their only chassis. He said that in principle Loriaux designed a very good car, just lack of testing made it difficult for them.

- He was also asked about the "not trusting the car" thing he had talked about all season - basically, he had surprises in places where he thought he was safe, and the general idea of how the car should behave in these situations was the opposite of how it actually behaved. This didn't allow him to push to his maximum.

- He didn't say anything bad about anyone, even about Jouhki; he just doesn't understand why Jouhki talks about him as he does.

[flat_right]

Ott is on his way to the US (he took a photo with a world famous Estonian conductor). To meet people at Ford? Doubt that he is going on a holiday there

[EstWRC]

Interesting

Shouldn’t they start to test and prepare already and etc. instead of it going to USA